Bits and Pieces

It's been awhile once again, since my last post, and since then I have been dabbling here and there with different projects, modeling, painting and some gaming.

Free Comic Book day has come and gone and the whole family headed to the local store to partake. My youngest picked up some free comics, I picked up a couple of games that were on sale, Lord of the Rings LCG(Living Card Game) by Fantasy Flight Games and Tribune also by FFG. I've been wanting to get the Lord of the Rings game for awhile now and it's one of the better solo games I've played (you can play with 2 players, 4 if you have 2 core sets). Tribune is a worker placement game set in ancient Rome and is another fun game that was easy to learn and will probably make it to the rotation for family game night. We met up with a friend/gamer/opponent, Shawn for lunch at a nearby pub, a very enjoyable day all around.

As far as gaming goes I've played a few games of Tribune, once with my older son and again with him and my wife. The game is easy to learn and the game play flows well. I also have played Lord of the Rings LCG in solo mode a number of times and quite enjoy that.

I've been reading a few rule sets namely Dust Warfare by FFG and Cutlass by Black Scorpion Miniatures . I am looking forward to playing the Dust Warfare set as I already have enough miniatures from Dust Tactics, a board game that straddles board and miniature gaming set in the same background. The rules seem clearly written, well indexed and looks like it will be fun to play. Cutlass I am holding off an opinion until I give it a try though on initial read the mechanics seem a little dated relying on a slew of tables. These may be easy to remember in game play and it does have a good set of reference sheets. Cutlass is all about a campaign style of play in which your crew grows in size, skill and equipment as you play more games and I think as a one shot game it may not hold up so well. So this game would require a dedicated group of gamers to get the most out of it. 

I've also managed to do some modeling, pulling out some models I've had for quite some time. I've been working on some 15mm WWII miniatures for Flames Of War   getting prepared to play some games with the new 3rd edition rule book. I am working on some Germans now and will move onto some Americans when they are finished. A friend of mine picked up a 1/100, 15mm Sdkfz 251 plastic kit by Zvezda for me to put together and compare to the Battlefront ones which I have done.

The Zvezda kit. This is everything for the model. It also come with a card of game stats for their own game. No decals though, all snap together.

Battlefront in the background, the scale is very close.

Front comparison.

All together.

All the halftracks primed and sprayed  the basic colour.

I would have no problem playing these side by side on the table. For me the only issue is the Battlefront ones I have are late war while the Zvezda one is early war.

Panthers and a Stug. I magnetized the barrel of the Stug so I can equip it with the 75mm or 105mm gun.

I tried doing the camo with a brush which turned out ok. I just know I will never get them painted if I wait to get the airbrush out!

The same friend who gave me the halftrack kit also purchased a bunch of foam core buildings from GameCraft  Miniatures for use in our 20mm modern battles. I got him to order a couple for me just to give them a try. I've put mine together making the floors and roof removable so that figures can be placed inside. They will take some modelling to make them ready for the table but are quite nice and cheap!
 

A 2 story building assembled.

With the roof removed to the second floor. This is the biggest cutout to allow me to lift out the next level. I glued a paper lip under the edge to support the cut out section.

Both cutouts removed to get to the main floor. I am going to base the building so I need to get to the main floor from the roof.

And finally I've been playing around with the TerraClips to try out different board arrangements for a Malifaux table for the up coming Malifaux weekend at my house.

The view from one side. This is a box each of Streets of Malifaux and Buildings of Malifaux.

The other side. A little more open, perhaps some trees in the little park like areas.

 That's about it, hope you enjoyed.
Rob.